Have browsed through the forum but did not find any question like this although I’m convinced there are several……
I understand there is no such thing as the light.
But If you could only have one mutli purpose light (I hope I did not give any of you a heart attack) with a budget of $50 (batteries excluded) which would you choose and why? If there is an obvious reason to up the budget a little that is also “allowed”
Size does not matter.
Good through with some decent spill or the other way around so not a dedicated thrower or dedicated flood light.
Power is of course in priority :bigsmile: .
I have one Jacob A60 and one King on order as my first lights, but it would be interesting to know the answer (which there of course isn’t) to this question.
Multipurpose by definition means it’s likely to be a jack of all trades and master of none. So I’d question the validity of the question really.
But even by a good at everything standard it still leaves too much variance.
A MagLite LED is probably a good candidate, it’ll do everything asked of it and last.
Out of my own lights, I think my Klarus NT20 is probably the most versatile and easy to use. Lots of modes, compact enough, powerful enough and highly usable.
A 18650 p60 sized light with xp-g or xm-l constitutes a the middle of road design with enough throw to see outside but not too much to be useless inside. Solarforce used to sell a 2AA body for low-voltage p60 drop-ins, so something of that profile would be pretty decent, too.
A lot of people like the Zebralight SC600 or the Ultrafire T50 “copy” in that general category.
My romisen rc-t7, it produces a good amount of light with 2*18650 cells and is mop reflector so it will throw a little and flood a little, thus an all round light. But still far from the perfect all round light
As a general purpose light, I’d vouch for my new Ultrafire UF-H6. It’s pretty much a zebralight and has a really good UI. It comes with a really comfortable headstrap, and you can also stand it upright and shoot light out at a 90 degree angle.
The strobe mode is hidden (double click), and you can save which output you want it to first turn on (since it’s an electronic switch).
click once for 3, then 15, then 50, then a 100 (3 amp) turbo (which goes back down to 50% after 60 seconds).
The only bad thing about this is, like my STL-V2 it’s a soft battery crusher. It put a massive dent in the negative end on my Panasonic NCR18650As, so I have to use my trustfire 2400 flames for it.
Costed me $37 and although it won’t blow you away in terms of throw, it’s the light I’d turn to if I want to get the job done.
UltraFire UF-980L from Manafont. $43 of quality 3 mode lumen blazing goodness. Compact and powerful. One of the best budget lights out there period. Small enough to EDC, punches well above it’s weight. Quality. Foylikesittoo.
Fenix E25 2xAA (about $35) with diffuser (about $3).
You get good throw for a 2xAA light, total flood with the diffuser, easily replaceable AA batteries, excellent fit/finish and reliability, and truthfully the high of 187 lumens is way more than 99% of us really need.
And besides, I’d still have $12 leftover for beer.
All those large 18650 lights are cool but the light I use the most and need the most is my $20 Pelican 1920 penlight. I could do without all my other lights but not having a good EDC for work would really be a hassle.
I guess if I had to have one light it would be my XP-G S-mini. I EDC this light every day and it has always done what I need from a flashlight. Great runtime, three modes w/out flashies, and it tailstands perfectly.With the included clip it carries well in my left pocket and cost well under 50$!-Rick
I'm up to about 35 or so lights now, so I'm still a relative noobie. While I have many lights I love or like a lot, some are good at one thing or another or just look nice, but the one with the best beam is the Shadow JM07. Perfect combination of flood & throw, good quality, CW or NW tint, runs on 26650 for a loooooong time or can be used with 18650. If you want it blinged up a little, go for the sideswitch version with the SS bezel. There's even a two-cell version available with an extender tube for crazy long run time.
Does everything you need except light up houses a block away, and runs on AA’s.
90% of my flashlight “needs” (as opposed to just fun) are illuminating things less than 100 feet away.
